This afternoon enjoy a visit to the Natural History Museum, a world renowned museum of natural history that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. The museum is home to life and earth science specimens comprising some 80 million items within five main collections: botany, entomology, mineralogy, paleontology and zoology, and it is particularly famous for its exhibition of dinosaur skeletons.

This morning head north out of London to the university city of Cambridge. Here you find medieval streets, gardens and of course the River Cam with its famous punts. Visit King's College Chapel, built by Henry VI at the end of the fifteenth century in the Perpendicular Gothic style. Look for the flying buttresses, long slim spires and the vast expanse of glass. At the far end of the church behind the altar you can find Rubens' 'Adoration of the Magi'.

Enjoy some time at leisure to take in the atmosphere of this bustling city, before visiting the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences is the oldest of the University of Cambridge museums, having been established in 1728 as the Woodwardian Museum. Since then the collection has grown from about 10,000 fossils, minerals and rocks, to at least 2 million.

Drive through the English countryside to Oxford, the "City of Dreaming Spires", which is home to England's oldest university. Here you can take a walk through the impressive buildings that are still home to the university's main ceremonial and educational functions, admiring the impressive architecture and splendid settings of the various colleges.

After lunch in a local restaurant visit the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Founded in 1860 as the center for scientific study at the University of Oxford, the Museum of Natural History now holds the University's internationally significant collections of geological and zoological specimens. Housed in a stunning example of neo-Gothic architecture, the Museum's growing collections underpin a broad program of natural environment research, teaching and public engagement. Among its most famous features are the Oxfordshire dinosaurs, the Dodo, and the swifts in the tower.

This morning depart Oxford. Stop first in the village of Bampton, which doubles as the Yorkshire village of Downton in the renowned Downton Abbey series. Here you can see locations and buildings that seem so familiar including the church where many of the services were filmed, the village square, home to the fictional pubs The Grantham Arms, The Dog & Duck and also the site of Downton Fair, and Churchgate House which was used as the Crawley family home

Continue to the idyllic village of Highclere where other scenes of the drama were filmed, including the small church, where many of the services were set and the village square which held the village fete.

Head further south to the historic city of Winchester where you can admire the fine cathedral and the old buildings of Winchester College.

At the end of the afternoon drive across the New Forest, a wild area of sturdy broadleaf trees and heather-clad moorland that is home to a breed of miniature pony, before arriving at your next hotel on the south coast

Lyme Regis is the quintessential British seaside town. For centuries now, British holiday-makers have made the pilgrimage to this quaint settlement situated on the Jurassic coast in Dorset. Enjoy a tour of the town before a visit to the Lyme Regis Museum, built on the site of the fossilist Mary Anning's home, the museum is an architectural gem packed with fascination. Discover Lyme's history, its geology, its fossils, its artists and writers, from J M Whistler to Jane Austen to John Fowles. Enjoy a talk by your expert about the fossils that are found locally and the Jurassic coast, before lunch at the famous By The Bay restaurant.

This afternoon walk from the restaurant to the Ammonite Graveyard, seeing Cobb's famous "Whispering Wall". The Cobb is the curved wall running around the edge of Lyme Regis Harbour. If you stand at either end of the curve of the Cobb facing each other and whisper into the stone, you'll be able to hear each other as though you're standing side by side. Walk along the beach to the Ammonite graveyard, a number of limestone ledges, washed clear by the sea. On the surface of one of them are hundreds of large fossilized ammonites. No one really knows why there are so many in this particular layer and no photograph can do it justice, it has to be seen to be believed.

This morning you are transferred to the village of Charmouth to enjoy a fossil walk along the beach back towards Lyme Regis with your expert, past the famous Black Ven cliff, historically renowned for paleontology. Mary Anning found an ichthyosaurus in The Spittles, and James Harrison found the first fossil remains of a Scelidosaurus while quarrying Black Ven in 1858. The shoreline is a great place for finding ammonites, belemnites and seaglass.

After the walk and fossil hunt the afternoon is at leisure to continue your explorations for fossils, or enjoy an afternoon tea in the town.

Journey southwards onto the peninsular known as 'the Isle of Portland'. Connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land, geologically named a 'tombolo', Portland has a history rich in folklore or smugglers and explorers. Continue along the coast, where the stunning Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door provides an excellent photo opportunity.

After lunch in a local restaurant transfer to Portsmouth and board the ferry to the Isle of Wight. On the island travel to the Lakeside hotel, your base for the night.

This morning embark on a guided fossil tour of the best place in Europe to find fossils. On the tour your expert guide will help you discover your own fossils as well as talking you through the identification process.

After lunch board the ferry back to the mainland and continue your journey to London checking back into the Kensington Hotel.

We have selected Abercrombie & Kent Europe as the local, inbound tour operator for your trip. With 25 years' experience and over 40 well-traveled multi-national staff, A&K's team seamlessly operates outstanding single and multi-country journeys in 24 destinations across Europe.